It took a few months, but Google has
finally had enough of China. Google and the Chinese government have
been at odds ever since Google
claimed that it systems were hacked by the Chinese. “In
mid-December, we detected a highly sophisticated and targeted attack
on our corporate infrastructure originating from China that
resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google,” wrote
Google Chief Legal Advisor David Drummond back in January. “However,
it soon became clear that what at what first appeared to be solely
a security incident--albeit a significant one--was
something quite different.”

Since that time, a war of words has
been escalating and U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has even
gotten involved. Now, Google has finally put its foot down with
regards to China – it's tired of the network attacks and it's tired
of censoring search results to appease the Chinese government.

“So earlier today we stopped
censoring our search services—Google Search, Google News, and
Google Images—on Google.cn,” wrote David Drummond, Google's Chief
Legal Officer, on
the company's official blog today. “Users visiting Google.cn
are now being redirected to Google.com.hk, where we are offering
uncensored search in simplified Chinese, specifically designed for
users in mainland China and delivered via our servers in Hong Kong.”

Drummond goes on to say that the
Chinese government has been unwilling to compromise or hear Google's
side of the argument when it comes to censorship, let alone the
network intrusions that originated in China. Also noteworthy is that
Drummond specifically mentions that U.S. executives alone were
responsible for the decision to shut down Google.cn. “None of our
employees in China can, or should, be held responsible for them,”
Drummond emphasized, likely in a nod to ensure that nothing
fishy happens to the Chinese employees.

Despite the fact that Google.cn will
cease to exist, Google maintains that it will continue to pursue its
research and development efforts in China.

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